Same-sex couples can currently only marry in 6 states, along with the District of Columbia. These places do not require people to be a resident of the state in order to get married there. As such, anyone can go over the state border in order to get married there. However, if they want to get a divorce, it’s a bit more difficult than that. Usually places that do not allow same-sex marriages also do not grant divorces for same-sex marriages. So in order to get divorced, one of the couple must be a resident of a state that allows gay and lesbian marriage.

This problem has been referred to by lawyers as being “wed-locked”. Lawyers are also trying to solve any problems couples may have with getting divorced in states that don’t support their marriage.

This also means that if one of the two married has a child, the other is considered to be the legal parent of the child. Also, if either of them have a relationship with another person after getting married, they become applicable to any bigamy charges. Also, because same-sex marriage isn’t recognized yet on the federal level, it causes it to be difficult to split any type of retirement packages if they do manage to get a divorce.

If one of the parents had a child during the marriage, that also add unexpected difficulties in their divorce. This creates the problem that usually one person with be genetically to one parent, but not the other. This causes legal issues in divorce, as different states have different rights for the non-related parent. However, divorces for gay and lesbian couples have been improving, and currently California will resolve same-sex marriages that occurred in the state, even if you aren’t a resident.